Back to School Inspiration!

It's all about "Back to School" at the Mason household! We have new backpacks, new tennis shoes, new pencils, pens, and erasers to rival every color of the rainbow, and even new haircuts to boot! But better than anything, we all know around here that "Back to School" means a

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My Summer Book Bag!

Here is a motley crew of book suggestions for your Summer reading pleasure! I have spent some luxurious summer hours perusing Indigo Books on Kiawah Island and Parnassus Books here in Nashville to find this eclectic mix of books to take out West with me next week! Maybe one of

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The Eagle and Child

If the French poets, theologues, and artists were becoming "enlightened" in a Grand Dame's salon or cozied up in a Parisian Cafe on the Boulevard Saint Germain, you could surely find the English, pint of ale in hand, matching wits at pubs like the "The Eagle and Child" in Oxford.

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Le Salon

Recently, I have been reading a novel about the life of the American novelist, Edith Wharton. The story opens with Wharton "wintering" in Paris. She is invited by the Comtesse de Noailles to attend her salon alongside Henry James and other well-known figures of the day. The French salon has quite

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Lenten Discipline

Traditionally, Lent is the 40 day wake-up call for Christians to "get right" with God before participating in the miracle of Easter. Lent is symbolic for the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert, both entertained by the devil and the angel, in preparation for his divine mission on

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The Alchemist

  There are certain books that have the power to leave an imprint on your soul. When people ask me about authors or books that have influenced my own writing and faith, a book that comes to immediate mind is Paulo Coelho's, The Alchemist. In many ways, it was this fable about a

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A Hilltop in France

Today I will let you in on one of my little secrets. When life weighs heavy on my spirit, I travel to a hilltop in France, in my imagination. When I close my eyes I can actually smell the scent of lavender and rosemary in the breeze, savor that first

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An Autumn Walk With Mary

  I have a long list of people that I would like to invite to take a walk through nature with me, preferably on the serpentine path that circles Radnor Lake here in Nashville, or beside the twinkling aspen trees that border the Snake River in Jackson Hole. Autumn is a

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To Heaven and Back

"No matter what the circumstances, we can be grateful that God fulfills His promises, that our faith is sufficient to sustain us, and that our eternal life is assured." These are the prophetic and hope-filled words of Dr. Mary C. Neal, a well-known orthopedic spine surgeon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming who

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